M&A to quench Sapporo’s thirst for US craft beers

August 07, 2017

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In a bid to expand its US footprint, Sapporo has agreed to buy the San Francisco brewer widely credited with kicking off the craft beer movement in the US: Anchor Brewing. Valued at a reported $85 million, the deal comes after a year of negotiations between Anchor and many other breweries, per SFGate. It also represents Sapporo’s third acquisition of a US-based beverage brand in the past decade, per the PitchBook Platform, and its first for a US-based beer maker in that time.

M&A could play a larger role in Sapporo’s future as the company implements a new plan to expand its footprint in the food & beverage space. And Anchor is expected to, well, anchor its US push. The move is the latest domino to fall in the beer industry consolidation in the wake of AB InBev’s takeover of SABMiller last year.

Anchor reported approximately $33 million in US sales in 2016. Shares of Sapporo (TKO: 2501) dropped about 4% Friday. The company has a market cap of roughly 231 billion yen (about $2.1 billion).